• + New bearing technology improves transient response and fuel efficiency
  • + Engineering expertise and manufacturing knowhow key to successful launch

Honeywell Ball Bearing Turbo Debuts in Premium Diesel Cars

Posted 09.28.2010

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From race cars to heavy-duty commercial vehicles to light-duty trucks, Honeywell Turbo Technologies has been at the forefront of extending the benefits of ball bearing turbos to more vehicle segments. And this time, the new frontier is premium diesel cars, where performance reigns supreme while fuel efficiency is becoming increasingly important. Honeywell ball bearing technology has been adopted by Daimler for its 3.0L V6 diesel engine, which is destined for the latest Mercedes-Benz E, C, S and R Class series.

Honeywell Ball Bearing Turbo Debuts In Premium Diesel CarsThanks to a world ‘first’ ball bearing turbo innovation from Honeywell for the premium diesel passenger vehicle segment, the benefits of this breakthrough bearing technology are immediately palpable, practically from the moment when the pedal is put to the metal.

“Compared to the sliding mechanism of conventional journal bearing, the rolling mechanism of ball bearing results in enhanced mechanical efficiency, and therefore better turbo efficiency,” says Craig Balis, VP of Engineering at Honeywell Turbo Technologies. “The significance of this improvement is many-fold.”

First, the transient response is much improved. The magnitude of time-to-boost improvement attributable to ball bearing can be between 20-70%. Second, ball bearing mechanism is shown to help deliver 2% fuel efficiency improvement compared to conventional journal bearing. Although this number may seem small to regular drivers, for OEMs, this incremental improvement can only help them meet ever tighter emissions standards. Lastly, ball bearing turbos work wonders in cold start condition. This is because unlike journal bearing where two layers of films coat the bearings, ball bearing is much less reliant on oil. Therefore, the high oil viscosity associated with cold start condition is much less an impediment to turbo responsiveness in ball bearing turbos.

Honeywell engineers have amassed considerable experience in making ball bearing turbos for racing and commercial vehicle applications, but introducing it to high-end diesel cars is not just a matter of scaling it down. It involves a series of challenges around higher temperature, higher rotational speed, and tighter packaging.

For example, at 200,000 rpm, the mechanical load sustained by a turbo can be very high, requiring Honeywell engineers to select the right material and the most optimized design for component durability. In terms of under-the-hood packaging, while ball bearing and journal bearing share similar constraints, the ball bearing presents Honeywell engineers with the unique task of ensuring bearing robustness with smaller shaft diameter.

Honeywell Ball Bearing Turbo Debuts In Premium Diesel CarsHoneywell’s ball bearing expertise not only lies in the product design, but also extends to the shop floor. The assembly and balancing of ball bearing mechanism has to be very precise, with very tight measurement and tolerance level. All this is made possible by close collaboration between engineering and manufacturing experts at Honeywell.

“As the trend towards improved fuel economy continues, ball bearing will be a key enabling technology to help OEMs develop ever-smaller engines that operate at lower average engine speeds, while maintaining the same fun to drive, ” says David Paja, VP of Marketing at Honeywell Turbo Technologies. “We expect this technology to be adopted in the future on smaller 4-cylinder engines.”